I’ve dieted and lost weight many times. I’ve lost over 30lbs since January and there is no way it’s coming back, I’ve made a lifelong change to watch what I eat. I’ve become obsessed with reading about fitness/diet research studies and success stories. And I’ve become obsessed with being healthy, losing weight, and gaining muscle. I’ve also learned a lot through trial and error and through helping my wife along — she’s lost over 25 pounds on the first diet she’s ever been on.

Also, maybe this is pathetic, but I often fantasize about helping obese people lose weight. I think about motivating them but most importantly teaching them about nutrients, the body, and how to lose weight. What would I tell them about losing weight? I’ve turned it into a three part post. This is my manifesto for losing weight, I’m sure some of the finer points will grow and change but these points I’ll never alter.

I think there are many facets of losing significant amounts of weight but only three stick out as being key for everyone. In this (long) article I’ll talk about each key in detail. I’m not claiming that I’ve discovered anything new or a magic bullet, just relaying what has worked best for me and what, based on research I’ve read, seems to be best. I apologize for the formatting of this article. I have been sitting on it a while and getting all the HTML correct is tedious and boring so I decided to just post up my rough draft that I’ve been piecing together for months.

The 3 keys to weightloss:
1. Maximize your metabolism
2. Count and limit calories
3. Banish white carbs

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Photo by Leo Reynolds.

Look who decided to make a blog post!

I’ve pretty much lost my will to post lately, nothing seems worthy (worthy of the blog or worthy of my time, I’m not sure). However, I will make an update on my progress losing weight and getting fit.

I missed my goal of 155 lbs this month but I’m sure I’ve put on some muscle and that if I could measure fat loss it would be more than 5lbs. This morning I was at 156 lbs and my waist measurement is down 1″ from last month.

In the past month I’ve made a several changes and learned some new things which I’ll summarize in this post. I’ll also talk about my future goals and the future of this blog.
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A medical journal published study from last month gave great news for people looking to lose weight.

Ninety-four women were put on caloric restricted diets and lost on average around 25-30 pounds. They were divided into three groups:

1. Aerobic training
2. Resistance training
3. No training

In addition to body fat their resting energy expenditure (their metabolic rate, how many calories they burn a day doing nothing) was measured. The result? The no-training and aerobic-training groups lost significant amounts of muscle and their metabolism decreased. The resistance training group not only didn’t lose any muscle but they gained muscle. And the icing on the cake is that their resting energy expenditure went up!

Bottom line, you MUST weight train when you are trying to lose weight if you want to maintain muscle and your metabolism.

Hunter et al.Resistance Training Conserves Fat-free Mass and Resting Energy Expenditure Following Weight Loss.
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Photo by Leo R.

I’ve lost 25 lbs after three months. I met my 5 pound goal for March.

Early January I weighed 185 and I’m 160 pounds now. I think this is the first time I’ve weighed 160 since my sophomore year in college — 2001. My upper abs are showing through and since I’ve concentrated a lot more on weight training I’ve have put on some muscle so my fat gains are likely more than 25lbs.

In March I made a few changes to my diet and exercise which I’ll outline in this post. I’ll also summarize how I got to this point for anyone new to the blog.
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Torte di Chocolate - 232 calories and sugar free

Health research regarding simple carbohydrates is just too convincing for me to ignore. As a result, I’ve been on many low or reduced carb diets in the past and still try to limit my simple sugar intake. Since eating low-carb is not always easy I’ve had a lot of processed low-carb foods and snacks.

One component common to the vast majority of processed low-carb snacks and desserts are something called sugar alcohols. Most low-carb snacks have a disclaimer about them like “sugar alcohols do not contribute to blood sugar levels” and then omit them from the total carbohydrate count along with fiber. “Hmm, what?!” Sugar alcohols are puzzling to me. What exactly are they? How do our bodies use them? And are they dangerous?

I did thirty minutes of research and this post will relay the essentials of what I learned.
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Pre-order I Can Make You Thin and receive 5% off

The first episode of I Can Make You Thin aired last night on TLC here in the US. The program was popular in the UK although it’s hard to discern how popular due to marketing hype. I was excited about watching it. Beforehand, I didn’t think it would necessarily help me lose weight but I thought it was a great idea and could help a lot of overweight people.

The two hardest parts of eating healthier are focus and motivation. My hope was that this show would give some no-nonsense direction and weekly motivation to people. And although I disagree with some of what was promoted during the program I think it did these two things well.
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Before Lost on Thursday night I tried to make a somewhat-healthy protein no-bake cookie. It didn’t turn out that great but not too bad.

I made 12 and each have something like 120 calories, 8 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of sugar. I can’t remember how much fat or remaining carbohydrates but it’s all from oatmeal, all-natural peanut butter, and Smart Balance butter so it’s at least of a good variety.

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“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” - Thomas Edison

If you’re brave enough to regularly set challenging diet and fitness goals for yourself you’re bound to fail at some point. Despite your best efforts you missed your 5K time, your monthly weight loss goal, or your cholesterol level goal.

How people deal with failure is a key difference that distinguishes the successful from the unsuccessful. A lot of people experience a feeling of “I’ll never get it right”, “It is not possible!”, or “It’s not fair!”. A feeling of no control clouds the mind.

I always feel this way initially. I have to give myself some time to wallow in self pity then shake myself and try to take something positive out of the situation. The past is over and the future hasn’t happened, what are you going to do right this moment to mold your future?

In this post I’ll summarize three actions I take whenever I fail that might work for you. These recommendations are clearly not confined to fitness goals and failures, I use them whenever I miss the mark. You should write your responses down and carry them out as systematically as possible — hit the Stand By button on your emotions.
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Photo by nippy.

Everything you do gets you closer or farther from where you want to be.

Nothing is neutral. You are either getting better or you are getting worse. Everything you think, say, and do moves you toward or away from your goal. And taking care of the small things can lead to greater confidence and willpower to achieve your goal.

One of my favorite authors, Larry Winget, put it perfectly:

“When you stop letting things slide and start taking advantage of every moment amazing things happen.”
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Photo by Bob Gamble.

There is a very interesting article over on the fantastic GetFitSlowly.com today.

It summarizes a study that looked at 6,000 successful dieters who lost on average 70 pounds and kept it off six years. It’s the only large scale study of it’s kind and I think we can learn a lot from it.

From getfitslowly.com:

The study has identified seven elements that characterize the diet and exercise of these “losers”:

Basic stuff but it’s the opposite of what a lot of people promote for weight loss. (more…)